Friday, October 11, 2013

REVIEW: Destiny of The Doctor - Death’s Deal

Death’s Deal is the tenth part in the Destiny of The Doctor audio series brought to you by AudioGo and Big Finish, featuring David Tenant’s Tenth Doctor.

The Doctor and Donna respond to multiple distress calls and the TARDIS lands on the planet Death’s Deal, ‘The Deadliest Planet in the Galaxy.’ The time traveling duo find themselves stranded among a bunch of space-tourists, but is everyone just here for a holiday or are their intentions less passive? Somewhere below the surface of the planet is something incredibly dangerous, that must never be unearthed.

Being a big fan of the Tennant/Tate era I had very high expectations for this installment of the Destiny series. Unfortunately, Death’s Deal doesn’t measure up. The story is uninteresting and unclear, Death’s Deal certainly doesn’t seem like the deadliest planet in the galaxy, the characters are two-dimensional and there are no real redeeming features. Its plot seems to have been influenced by Dune, and at times feels a little like a bad version of the television episode Midnight.

There is a nice taste of what’s to come in the 50th Anniversary special, The Day of The Doctor, when we hear the Eleventh Doctor’s message for the Tenth; which he signs off: “You’re the best. Aside from me.” A nice moment, although sadly one of few.

Catherine Tate, who portray’s more than half the characters is great, but there isn’t enough difference between the multitude of character voices to clearly differentiate each individual. Duncan Wisbey is charming as the lovable creature Krux, but even his performance doesn’t redeem the story.

The remit for the Destiny of The Doctor series is to accurately represent each Doctor’s era, but Death’s Deal doesn’t come close to doing justice to one of the best periods the programme has ever had. The Destiny series has been very consistent and strong overall but unfortunately this isn’t the case for the latest instalment.